Immortal Martial: Sweeping Across the Two Worlds from Reality, Chapter 10

The eight hundred you took from me—you're paying it all back with interest today!

"One hundred."

"Fine! Transfer it now! My Weixin is already thirsting for it."

"Deduct it from my future salary." Jiang Shu ate a few skewers of vegetables to cut the grease. "Didn't you, the CEO, say you were hiring me as both bodyguard and driver? My salary should start at ten thousand at the very least. A hundred yuan is pocket change—just deduct it from my wages!"

"???"

What, were you a dog?

Her fists clenched.

Her fists had hardened.

At that moment, Jiang Yanyue truly felt the urge to practice martial arts.

A very strong urge.

She just wanted to ask: how could an ordinary person improve through martial arts in a single minute and suppress someone who might already have sensed their qi and blood?

One minute. Not a second more.

Any longer, and she would get tired.

In the end, Jiang Yanyue still decided to accompany Jiang Shu to the zoo.

It was absolutely not because of the milk tea in her hands.

"Jiang Shu, if you buy me a cup of milk tea this good every day, I won't be mad at you anymore."

"Sure. Buy it yourself, and deduct the money from my salary."

"If you use the same joke too many times, you get fined."

"Deduct it from my salary?"

Jiang Yanyue suddenly felt exhausted. She vaguely remembered that her brother hadn't been like this before.

Back then, she had always crushed him in terms of intelligence.

Could practicing martial arts grow not only your limbs, but your brains too?

Jiang Yanyue looked out the window and decided that for the entire day, she would not say a word to this bodyguard-driver who only knew how to talk about deducting wages.

He was far too unprofessional!

Fifteen minutes later.

"Hey, Jiang Shu, look! There are so many people."

Jiang Yanyue turned around, opened the car window, and stuck her head out to look back as hard as she could. On the other side of the road, more than a dozen people were still buying tickets at the zoo entrance, while even more entered one by one under the security guards' direction.

Even the fairly large parking lot was already packed with cars.

It wasn't as if she had never been to the zoo.

When she was little, she had even been a regular visitor.

But with the changing times over the past few years, she and her classmates usually went out to eat good food, play murder mystery games, escape rooms, and the like. They rarely came here anymore.

She had never expected there to be so many people today.

Jumping out of the car, Jiang Yanyue drained the last mouthful of milk tea and tossed the cup into a trash can. Once they crossed the road, she noticed a sign standing outside that read: "Jicheng Zoo Relocating Soon! Final Three Days! Free Admission! Register at the Ticket Office!"

"Oh, so it's moving. No wonder there are so many people. Jiang Shu, did you see the news that it was relocating, so you specifically came here?"

"Do I look like someone who scrolls through that kind of news?"

Jiang Shu rolled his eyes at Jiang Yanyue, though he was puzzled as well. A zoo counted as part of a city's basic infrastructure—how could it be relocated so casually? More strangely, such a relocation would normally be announced in advance on Ji City's official public account, explaining where it would be moved.

Yet when he opened his phone, he could not find a single piece of news on Ji City's public account.

Only after browsing forums and message boards did he find posts claiming that under a new government directive, zoos in second- and third-tier prefecture-level cities would collectively relocate to their respective provincial capitals in the coming days.

Some first-tier cities had even begun capturing stray cats and dogs.

The directive was abrupt and bizarre.

It was like the order issued three months ago, allowing high school students to become Martial Arts Students regardless of whether they studied the sciences or humanities, and to practice the Horse Stance.

After queuing at the ticket office for over twenty minutes, the two finally entered the zoo.

Jiang Yanyue decided to follow the route she had taken as a child and revisit every corner of the zoo, taking photos now and then to post in her class group chat.

Jiang Shu, meanwhile, slipped his phone into his pocket. No longer dwelling on it, he said something to his sister before

walking straight to the tiger enclosure and quietly watching the fierce tigers behind the glass.

He imitated their pacing, crouching, sitting, and breathing.

The tiger, Elder Qiu, and himself.

The three figures continuously practiced in Jiang Shu's mind, gradually overlapping.

The stances of Pingling County mostly relied on visualizing ferocious beasts and birds of prey.

But how many martial arts practitioners could observe hungry tigers, crimson apes, azure hawks, and white cranes up close?

Without experiencing them firsthand, whatever one imagined would forever remain nothing more than imagination.

Not only would one fail to grasp the essence, progress would also be painfully slow.

From this perspective, for Martial Artists without exceptional talent, learning Pingling County's stances might truly be inferior to learning Mystic Star's Horse Stance.

The Horse Stance was all-purpose and universally applicable. Anyone could learn it.

There could not possibly be only one stance technique in the entire Xia Kingdom.

The various hidden martial arts clans, the upper ranks of the military, and even the imperial inner court undoubtedly possessed stance techniques better than the Horse Stance.

But in terms of value and broad applicability, the Horse Stance was certainly among the best.

Jiang Shu crouched and sat like a tiger, breathing like a tiger.

On the panel, the proficiency values for the Hungry Tiger Sitting Cave Stance and Hungry Tiger Breathing Method steadily rose. The unknown amount of meat he had eaten at the all-you-can-eat barbecue restaurant was rapidly broken down and digested in his stomach and intestines, its qi-and-blood energy transported to his limbs and along his entire spine.

It was only a pity that the tigers in Jicheng Zoo had been confined for too long and had lost their proper ferocity.

Jiang Shu could sense a tiger's crouching posture and its breathing.

But he could not sense Hungry Tiger Sitting Cave or Hungry Tiger Breathing.

The latter possessed a patience, explosiveness, and supreme savagery the former absolutely lacked.

Still, fortunately, he had the panel.

Once verified, forever verified.

Once a martial art was initiated, as long as he was willing to grind, he would certainly reach perfection.

Over the next two days, Jiang Shu did not return to Pingling County. In the mornings, he went to the zoo to watch the tigers and study their crouching and breathing. In the afternoons, he returned home to practice the Horse Stance and grind proficiency.

At night, he stopped practicing martial arts and had proper meals with his parents, chatting with them.

Practicing martial arts was like drawing a bow—there had to be tension and release.

Appropriate rest was also a form of cultivation.

Jiang Shu—

Great Jing Dynasty Language/Writing: Initiated (998/1000)

Horse Stance: Minor Mastery (596/1000)

Hungry Tiger Sitting Cave Stance: Initiated (128/1000)

Hungry Tiger Breathing Method: Initiated (128/1000)

Tiger Form Three Styles: Initiated (80/1000)

Two Worlds Traversal Countdown: 00:00

"With the foundation laid by the Horse Stance, combined with studying a tiger's crouching and breathing, the effect really is remarkable. I'm gaining nearly fifty proficiency points a day. If the zoo weren't relocating, going there every day should raise it quite a bit more."

"I've slacked off on the Horse Stance these past few days. For the next stretch, I should improve it rapidly and reach Major Mastery as quickly as possible."

"I should grind the Great Jing Dynasty's language and writing to at least Minor Mastery—ideally, see whether I can reach Major Mastery. A single county has Martial Artists in the Viscera Refining Realm standing guard. What about a commandery city? A prefectural city? I still haven't actually come into contact with true martial arts. The breathing methods and stance techniques I've learned were only taught orally and by demonstration; there are no written texts being passed down."

"If I don't build a solid foundation in the language now, then when I eventually encounter true methods of martial cultivation, it may be too late to learn them. Opportunities never wait for anyone."

"An initiated level of language and writing should be like Xia Kingdom's nine years of compulsory education. It is enough for simple daily life, but not enough to study classical texts. Martial arts use concise words to point directly toward the Great Dao. They definitely cannot be expounded through merely initiated language and writing."

"It's just a pity that Master Qin is leaving the Outer City. If I want to advance further, it seems I can only go to the Inner City."

Jiang Shu looked at his panel and calculated inwardly.

In an unfamiliar world, knowledge was always the most important thing. He had followed the refugees into Pingling County's Outer City, secretly listened to Master Qin's elementary lessons, and learned the basic written language.

Afterward, he prepared the tuition gifts and became his student. Only after spending more than two months did he grind his way to nearly Minor Mastery.

"The Inner City does have better teachers, but without exception, they all teach in academies. To enter one, you must have Pingling County household registration."